The Ray-Ban meta-glasses sound intriguing, but I can’t seem to find a full description of what they can do. I am totally blind. How much use would I get out of these glasses? What can they do for me?
As a blind user, I don't think you could do any better than scan the many posts and comments on AppleVis.
I use mine every day and it is only increasing. I use a VPN, so I get the 'Look and Tell' features, that is essential. AIRA is coming soon - the calling feature and you can video call friends with WhatsApp.
IMO these are just a few steps away from being perfect. they probs will never get to perfect, but you can get nine pairs of these for the price of one pair of Envision glasses.
Perfect or not, in the kingdom of the blind, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses will make you king. Or queen.
Just a note on the Aira thing, I think they'll only be offering whatsapp calls via video. As far as I'm aware, Meta haven't opened up their Api yet. There is intagration with audio apps, but no video apps and I don't think that will change.
My view is that they're a nice toy but limitted and don't foresee those limits changing. Meta doesn't really care about accessibility enough to allow the platform to do all the good stuff we want. I hope it does change, of course, but I think there will be better options out that use chat gpt and may allow for be my eyes to be loaded on. They will be more expensive as the meta glasses are subsidised by the fact you are providing them with your data, but there will be stand alone glasses which are more customisable. The Brillance glasses, I think they're called, are out later this year which, I believe, will be far better, especially when Open AI finally release the live video and audio for 4o.
AIRA either have or are about to have an integration with the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in beta testing. Are you saying they don't? Or are you saying I am not understanding what they are doing correctly?
From what they have told me, you wil be able to connect with an AIRA Visual Interpreter via the Meta smart glasses. He or she, will see thrugh the camera on your glasses and you will be able to talk to them through the glasses also - this the AIRA service being delivered over the Ray-Ban meta smart glasses, connected to iPhone.
You will not be able to use the Access AI feature, it will be live calls only.
Yeah, you've got it correct but it's just going to be done through whatsapp, IE a pool of people assisting instead of calling friends or family. There won't be, as far as I understand it, any particularly clever intagration, rather it'll be simply video calling a number... Though I may be wrong. You'll just say something like, Meta, whatsapp call Aira.
Not to say this isn't amazing in itself, I just wanted to point out that it's not an indicator of the Ray-bans getting new and exciting features. It's using the current features in a useful way.
This is one more thing to cross off the list of things these glasses can’t do. For me, the only thing left is document/page reading – working with Look and Tell to get details is tedious!
I recently had a virtual demo of the Envision glasses, and was very highly impressed. The instant text, and basicly having the envision assistant built in; at least to me, they seem like they'd be a worthwhile investment. I've actually taken the step of applying for a loan through my bank to get the Envision glasses, but in the interest of saving money, I'm open to learning more about how these meta glasses compare. I like that the envision glasses were essentially designed from the ground up to meet our needs, and especially lately, I've been extremely happy with the feedback I get from the envision app and the envision assistant beta on my iPhone. I really don't like the idea of giving Meta money and tying myself to their ecosystem any more than I absolutely have to. I often think that if I had things to do over, I never would have gotten facebook, but now, there are too many things on there that I want to keep tabs on, so deleting my account isn't an option. Anyway, I have no idea if this would ever be possible, but I'd love to hear a podcast or something that clearly demonstrates the differences, apart from price of course, between the envision and Meta glasses.
The frustration is the meta Ray-Bans are very close. They are a platform that could do everything the Envision glasses could, they just don't.
Descriptions are overly simple anecdotes though fast, document reading isn't possible, rather you get a summary of the document, an energy bill, for example.
I think the best thing we can hope for now is, like chat GPT, a way to specify the type of response we want. In that we could instruct it on the verbosity and accuracy of responses. Still, that will be more costly for meta as, relatively, they're footing the bill for all requests.
Will be interesting to see how things change with the recently released llama 3.2, I think it is. It's meant to be very good, but don't think it's yet planned to trickle down to the glasses.
IN short, things designed specifically for us and around us, are likely to be far better, until there is an open platform or accessibility is baked in, as we had with iPhone. I don't imagine either of these things are coming.
Saying that, and as I said before, I thin there will be other smart glasses, not as expensive as Envision that will be an open platform, but that's speculative and future tech is worth nothing compared with tech you need now.
The main thing, I think, that the meta ray-bans cannot do when compared with Envision, is read documents correctly and completely. If you are okay to continue using your phone and split tasks between devices, the meta ray-bans are certainly worth a go. I'd buy them and try them and return if you don't get on with them. They certainly shouldn't require a loan.
the Envision glasses are nine times the cost of the Ray=Ban Meta glasses. If you are borrowing the money, especially as we now have to pay intrest again, please don't.
Using the Meta glasses can be like playing twenty questions with an idiot! I acknowledge that, but they are backed by Meta and a lot of money. Also, remember, the Envision glasses are running on Google Glass, so they aren't pure either.
As has been said, Llama 3.1 came out this week, it has a 405 billion token version and it is said will go multimodal next and soon, so lots of things will be hapening this year.
Finally, the Solos glasses with GPT-4o might even come out!
The whole subject of smart glasses is beginning to make my brain hurt. A part of me still feels as though the Envision glasses are best for my needs, but after watching a few Youtube videos... I just wonder if this is one tech pool I'm not ready to swim in yet. I still have no desire to give Meta any of my money or get myself any further involved with their eco system. I'm also finding a lot of youtube videos suggesting that they're not all that great, and these are mainstream users. I also sense that the meta glasses are more for social media and stuff like that than actually being useful for our needs. Reading comments on here... I just don't know. It seems like some folks are legitimately happy with them, and some seem to be saying that the meta glasses aren't all that good, but they might be in the future. So, I guess I just can't work out if I should pay $350 or whatever for something that might be decently useable in the future, or invest more in something that works better now? Or, should I just continue avoiding smart glasses altogether until the technology has developed further? I sometimes feel like technology is almost like a revolving door; you have to jump in sooner or later, but even when you do, chances are good that something better will come along the minute you buy something. I was approved for a loan through my bank, but haven't actually signed the paperwork yet, so I'm almost tempted to chicken out for now, not get the loan, and forget about smart glasses for a while, but on the other side of that coin, I really want to play around with smart glasses and see what they can do for me. Sorry for such a wishy-washy and indecisive post, but the more advanced technology gets, the more confused and left behind I feel.stay out of the
As someone who doesn't currently own any smart glasses, my understanding is that their main benefit for blind and low vision users is the handsfree experience. With a smartphone, a user could use one or both hands to position the camera over or in front of something they want read or described, but that might not be practical when navigating with a cane or dog harness in one hand, or for braille display users or those with limited hand mobility. However, if you're generally happy with your existing assistive technology strategies to access visual information, I don't think they'd offer much benefit for your use case.
One thing to think about when you think about the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses - they are Ray-Ban sunglasses!
I know that sounds obvious, but keep in mind, you pay quite a lot for the dumb version.
Secondly, they are sorta kinda OK headhones. I don't like even walking around my own home wearing Airpods, but the open-ear design of these glasses feels very different.
Third, you can make and recieve calls, over the phone or via WhatsAp.
Fourth, text messages to. Even FB Messenger - if you do that sort of thing.
And last, but not least, they turn blind people into partially sighted people. Or they make normal people into Sorcerers! You can speak an incantation into the air and a voice sorta kinda tells you what the world, the thing you are holding or the cat in front of you looks like!
I think people should stop over-thinking this, they are £300!
Go with your guts and do not get it. If you are not that means you do not need it. It looks like is a want and not a need. Maybe if third party apps will be allow it might be another story.
The main appeal of smart glasses for me is the hands free part. Trying to position my phone's camera to read things or take pictures of items I'd like descriptions of is very challenging, so it seems that glasses would make that easier. As for the cool factor or whatever, that's not even remotely a priority, and I like my airpods. Plus, I have hearing aids, so that feature of the metas is something else that doesn't appeal. This is why part of me thinks the Envision glasses might be a good investment because they'd provide a hands-free version of the results I'm able to get on my phone. Perhaps I should just continue to wait and see how things develop in the world of smart glasses; as someone above this post said, they're more of a want than a need for me, and I do have the Glide coming next year. I guess it's just been a long time since I've had an exciting new tech toy, and I think I'd enjoy learning something new that is also more or less practical.
While I am not rushing out to purchase a pair of Meta RayBans anytime soon, I will say that for someone who wears regular old (dumb) sunglasses all the time (see: Photophobia), and wears earbuds all of the time as well, these seem like a decent investment just for that, if nothing else. 😇
A wearable camaera! Like you, the main thing I value these glasses for is not having to cary my phone out to the kitchen and then point it at stuff in the fridge. Holding thigns up and casting spells is far more satisfying - even if the spells don't always work!
I just ordered my meta glasses, and now I'm just waiting for it to arrive. You're right, they are definitely a game changer for the blind community. One tip I do have for anyone who would like to try, say, HeY Meta, look and tell me in discriptive detale what you see, and it'll read from top to bottom what it sees. I haven't tried it myself, but I will once I set up the glasses.
These glasses are great. The AI is better than you might think, from reading comments online, but can still be frustrating.
I've had them for six months and use them most days. I don't use them as much as I hoped to - I wonder how much better the Computer Vision has to get before I am wwearing them all the time?
Comments
AppleVis
As a blind user, I don't think you could do any better than scan the many posts and comments on AppleVis.
I use mine every day and it is only increasing. I use a VPN, so I get the 'Look and Tell' features, that is essential. AIRA is coming soon - the calling feature and you can video call friends with WhatsApp.
IMO these are just a few steps away from being perfect. they probs will never get to perfect, but you can get nine pairs of these for the price of one pair of Envision glasses.
Perfect or not, in the kingdom of the blind, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses will make you king. Or queen.
Just a note on the Aira…
Just a note on the Aira thing, I think they'll only be offering whatsapp calls via video. As far as I'm aware, Meta haven't opened up their Api yet. There is intagration with audio apps, but no video apps and I don't think that will change.
My view is that they're a nice toy but limitted and don't foresee those limits changing. Meta doesn't really care about accessibility enough to allow the platform to do all the good stuff we want. I hope it does change, of course, but I think there will be better options out that use chat gpt and may allow for be my eyes to be loaded on. They will be more expensive as the meta glasses are subsidised by the fact you are providing them with your data, but there will be stand alone glasses which are more customisable. The Brillance glasses, I think they're called, are out later this year which, I believe, will be far better, especially when Open AI finally release the live video and audio for 4o.
Hey Ollie : the latest:
AIRA either have or are about to have an integration with the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in beta testing. Are you saying they don't? Or are you saying I am not understanding what they are doing correctly?
From what they have told me, you wil be able to connect with an AIRA Visual Interpreter via the Meta smart glasses. He or she, will see thrugh the camera on your glasses and you will be able to talk to them through the glasses also - this the AIRA service being delivered over the Ray-Ban meta smart glasses, connected to iPhone.
You will not be able to use the Access AI feature, it will be live calls only.
Yeah, you've got it correct…
Yeah, you've got it correct but it's just going to be done through whatsapp, IE a pool of people assisting instead of calling friends or family. There won't be, as far as I understand it, any particularly clever intagration, rather it'll be simply video calling a number... Though I may be wrong. You'll just say something like, Meta, whatsapp call Aira.
Not to say this isn't…
Not to say this isn't amazing in itself, I just wanted to point out that it's not an indicator of the Ray-bans getting new and exciting features. It's using the current features in a useful way.
Oh, OK, i see where you are coming from
This is one more thing to cross off the list of things these glasses can’t do. For me, the only thing left is document/page reading – working with Look and Tell to get details is tedious!
I'd like a comparison between these and the envision glasses
I recently had a virtual demo of the Envision glasses, and was very highly impressed. The instant text, and basicly having the envision assistant built in; at least to me, they seem like they'd be a worthwhile investment. I've actually taken the step of applying for a loan through my bank to get the Envision glasses, but in the interest of saving money, I'm open to learning more about how these meta glasses compare. I like that the envision glasses were essentially designed from the ground up to meet our needs, and especially lately, I've been extremely happy with the feedback I get from the envision app and the envision assistant beta on my iPhone. I really don't like the idea of giving Meta money and tying myself to their ecosystem any more than I absolutely have to. I often think that if I had things to do over, I never would have gotten facebook, but now, there are too many things on there that I want to keep tabs on, so deleting my account isn't an option. Anyway, I have no idea if this would ever be possible, but I'd love to hear a podcast or something that clearly demonstrates the differences, apart from price of course, between the envision and Meta glasses.
The frustration is the meta…
The frustration is the meta Ray-Bans are very close. They are a platform that could do everything the Envision glasses could, they just don't.
Descriptions are overly simple anecdotes though fast, document reading isn't possible, rather you get a summary of the document, an energy bill, for example.
I think the best thing we can hope for now is, like chat GPT, a way to specify the type of response we want. In that we could instruct it on the verbosity and accuracy of responses. Still, that will be more costly for meta as, relatively, they're footing the bill for all requests.
Will be interesting to see how things change with the recently released llama 3.2, I think it is. It's meant to be very good, but don't think it's yet planned to trickle down to the glasses.
IN short, things designed specifically for us and around us, are likely to be far better, until there is an open platform or accessibility is baked in, as we had with iPhone. I don't imagine either of these things are coming.
Saying that, and as I said before, I thin there will be other smart glasses, not as expensive as Envision that will be an open platform, but that's speculative and future tech is worth nothing compared with tech you need now.
The main thing, I think, that the meta ray-bans cannot do when compared with Envision, is read documents correctly and completely. If you are okay to continue using your phone and split tasks between devices, the meta ray-bans are certainly worth a go. I'd buy them and try them and return if you don't get on with them. They certainly shouldn't require a loan.
No NO NO to a loan!
the Envision glasses are nine times the cost of the Ray=Ban Meta glasses. If you are borrowing the money, especially as we now have to pay intrest again, please don't.
Using the Meta glasses can be like playing twenty questions with an idiot! I acknowledge that, but they are backed by Meta and a lot of money. Also, remember, the Envision glasses are running on Google Glass, so they aren't pure either.
As has been said, Llama 3.1 came out this week, it has a 405 billion token version and it is said will go multimodal next and soon, so lots of things will be hapening this year.
Finally, the Solos glasses with GPT-4o might even come out!
My current thoughts on Smart glasses
The whole subject of smart glasses is beginning to make my brain hurt. A part of me still feels as though the Envision glasses are best for my needs, but after watching a few Youtube videos... I just wonder if this is one tech pool I'm not ready to swim in yet. I still have no desire to give Meta any of my money or get myself any further involved with their eco system. I'm also finding a lot of youtube videos suggesting that they're not all that great, and these are mainstream users. I also sense that the meta glasses are more for social media and stuff like that than actually being useful for our needs. Reading comments on here... I just don't know. It seems like some folks are legitimately happy with them, and some seem to be saying that the meta glasses aren't all that good, but they might be in the future. So, I guess I just can't work out if I should pay $350 or whatever for something that might be decently useable in the future, or invest more in something that works better now? Or, should I just continue avoiding smart glasses altogether until the technology has developed further? I sometimes feel like technology is almost like a revolving door; you have to jump in sooner or later, but even when you do, chances are good that something better will come along the minute you buy something. I was approved for a loan through my bank, but haven't actually signed the paperwork yet, so I'm almost tempted to chicken out for now, not get the loan, and forget about smart glasses for a while, but on the other side of that coin, I really want to play around with smart glasses and see what they can do for me. Sorry for such a wishy-washy and indecisive post, but the more advanced technology gets, the more confused and left behind I feel.stay out of the
Smart glasses
As someone who doesn't currently own any smart glasses, my understanding is that their main benefit for blind and low vision users is the handsfree experience. With a smartphone, a user could use one or both hands to position the camera over or in front of something they want read or described, but that might not be practical when navigating with a cane or dog harness in one hand, or for braille display users or those with limited hand mobility. However, if you're generally happy with your existing assistive technology strategies to access visual information, I don't think they'd offer much benefit for your use case.
I actually bought them. i actually use them.
One thing to think about when you think about the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses - they are Ray-Ban sunglasses!
I know that sounds obvious, but keep in mind, you pay quite a lot for the dumb version.
Secondly, they are sorta kinda OK headhones. I don't like even walking around my own home wearing Airpods, but the open-ear design of these glasses feels very different.
Third, you can make and recieve calls, over the phone or via WhatsAp.
Fourth, text messages to. Even FB Messenger - if you do that sort of thing.
And last, but not least, they turn blind people into partially sighted people. Or they make normal people into Sorcerers! You can speak an incantation into the air and a voice sorta kinda tells you what the world, the thing you are holding or the cat in front of you looks like!
I think people should stop over-thinking this, they are £300!
Missy Hoppe
Go with your guts and do not get it. If you are not that means you do not need it. It looks like is a want and not a need. Maybe if third party apps will be allow it might be another story.
reason for smart glasses temptation
The main appeal of smart glasses for me is the hands free part. Trying to position my phone's camera to read things or take pictures of items I'd like descriptions of is very challenging, so it seems that glasses would make that easier. As for the cool factor or whatever, that's not even remotely a priority, and I like my airpods. Plus, I have hearing aids, so that feature of the metas is something else that doesn't appeal. This is why part of me thinks the Envision glasses might be a good investment because they'd provide a hands-free version of the results I'm able to get on my phone. Perhaps I should just continue to wait and see how things develop in the world of smart glasses; as someone above this post said, they're more of a want than a need for me, and I do have the Glide coming next year. I guess it's just been a long time since I've had an exciting new tech toy, and I think I'd enjoy learning something new that is also more or less practical.
Just a preference
While I am not rushing out to purchase a pair of Meta RayBans anytime soon, I will say that for someone who wears regular old (dumb) sunglasses all the time (see: Photophobia), and wears earbuds all of the time as well, these seem like a decent investment just for that, if nothing else. 😇
Missy, it sounds like you want what I want
A wearable camaera! Like you, the main thing I value these glasses for is not having to cary my phone out to the kitchen and then point it at stuff in the fridge. Holding thigns up and casting spells is far more satisfying - even if the spells don't always work!
Just ordered my meta glasses
Hi all,
I just ordered my meta glasses, and now I'm just waiting for it to arrive. You're right, they are definitely a game changer for the blind community. One tip I do have for anyone who would like to try, say, HeY Meta, look and tell me in discriptive detale what you see, and it'll read from top to bottom what it sees. I haven't tried it myself, but I will once I set up the glasses.
They just told me the screen is showing a blank coment box
Which is true...good job.
These glasses are great. The AI is better than you might think, from reading comments online, but can still be frustrating.
I've had them for six months and use them most days. I don't use them as much as I hoped to - I wonder how much better the Computer Vision has to get before I am wwearing them all the time?